Wheels Fall Off The 'Bad Economy Bus'

November 26, 2003

It's almost comical watching the Democratic presidential debates these days.    It's a constant railing against the so-called “Bush Economy.”   These folks seem totally oblivious to the truth.   They rant about how awful the economy is.   They whine and pine for the “good old days” of the Clinton administration.   They claim that America is in deplorable financial shape.   They paint a picture of wretched economic conditions with tens of millions going jobless, homeless and hungry.

 

 

But let's look at the facts.   The broadest measure of the economy's performance – the gross domestic product - increased at an astonishing 8.2 percent annual rate in the third quarter, which encompasses July through September.   That's the largest growth since the first quarter of 1984, almost 20 years ago!   You know who was president then?   That's right, Ronald Reagan.   And Walter Mondale was saying the exact same things about him.

 

It's difficult to distinguish Mondale from any of the current Democrat candidates.   Here's Richard Gephardt sounding so Mondalesque:   “I have a plan to get this economy moving again.”   Moving again, Dick?   How much more moving do you want to do than topping a record set 20 years ago?   Wes Clark chimed in, “We're in war abroad, and we have a failing economy at home.”   What country are these people living in?

 

Congressman Kucinich's solution?   And I quote: “My economic strategy would be to fuel growth in the economy by having a full-employment economy, by working to rebuild our cities with a massive new WPA-type program.”   What?   Does he think we're in the middle of some depression?!?   A WPA program?   Hey, brother Kucinich, can you spare a dime?   I envision the democratic candidates huddled around a large burning trash barrel with the fingers cut out of their gloves.

 

The wire services begrudgingly dished out the good news of the 8.2 percent GDP growth with warnings about unemployment to temper the excitement.   AP warned that unemployment could be troublesome for Bush's re-election although they admitted that it had dropped to 6 percent and would probably decline further in 2004.   Look, when better than 96 percent of working-age Americans are at work, unemployment becomes a non-issue for the president.   The only time unemployment becomes troublesome for a president is when people start getting the feeling that they may be next to lose their jobs.   The economic climate today just doesn't feel like that.   It actually feels warm and toasty and very hopeful.

 

Just look at the other economic indicators.   Sales of previously owned homes are up.   October's sales marked the third best month on record and were on track to set an all-time high for 2003.   Third quarter business investment in new equipment and software is up 18.4 percent.   That compares with a growth rate of 8.3 percent in the second quarter.   Spending on residential projects grew at an amazing 22.7 percent rate in the third quarter.  

 

You see, the ugly irony in all this is that it's bad news for the Democrats who purport to be the party of hope.   To paraphrase FDR, they have nothing to sell but fear itself.   They go around the country on their traveling circus train filled with political clowns and freak shows trying to sell tickets of doom and gloom to the American people.   The people aren't buying.   Their last desperate act will be to shoot Hillary “Rob ‘em” Clinton out of a cannon.   Too little, too late.   We're one year out from the election.   Hopefully by then, the American people will fully understand that they, themselves, drive the economy, not the puppeteers in government.   Perhaps then they'll cut the strings once and for all.